****The Official Friday Silliness Thread****

[Lucky9teen]

08/08/08What a cosmic date! What is the significance of 8/8/8 as applied to conspiratorial 2012 Armageddon. It's got to be something bad right? The new moon falls on August 8, 2008 and it's the beginning of the Olympics in Peking (year of the RAT). Anyone making plans to dig in?

[girlscout]

Not in China. They’re sideways.

I always thought they were just slanted

[Lucky9teen]

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Larry King, the king of talk radio during the "Fairness Doctrines" days.

I remember a caller protesting a big federal tax increase.

King's response? He asked the caller, "Don't you love you're country? What's the matter with you?"

[OrioleFan]

Andy!

[SeaHawkFan]

My parents had #18.

[BenLurkin]

[BenLurkin]

[Rummyfan]

Andy Etchebarren, AFAIK the only Basque to ever play in the major leagues, was said to resemble a cab driving down the street with all four doors open.

[Rummyfan]

01. Dyed your hair? NO
02. Been arrested? NO
03. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol? YES, YES, and YES
04. Done a striptease? NO
05. Gone to a huge sports game? YES
06. Built your own PC from parts? - NO
07. Taken a midnight skinny dip? YES
08. Taken an ice cold bath? - NO

[Fawn]

OMG....what is that?

[do the dhue]

When I was young and played catcher, I wanted the number eight so I could be like Andy.

But the man I miss the most is Earl Weaver. He was the best.

[do the dhue]

If I remember correctly, Andy split time with Elrod Hendrix.

And the two of them caught four 20 game winners in a season:

Palmer, McNally, Dobson, and Cuallar.

[Rummyfan]

Palmer, McNally, Dobson, and Cuellar.

1971... unfortunately the Os lost the Series to the Pirates in seven.

Earl Weaver on Mike Cuellar: I gave Mike Cuellar more chances than my ex-wife....

I loved those Oriole teams of the late sixties early seventies. Heck, in 1969 - 1970 - 1971 they never even lost one ALCS playoff game.

[do the dhue]

They had some great players on those teams: Brooks, Frank, Paul Blair, Don Baylor, Buford, Bob Grich (played a couple of those years at 2nd). Mark Belanger couldn't hit, but had a great glove. And who didn't love Boog Powell?

[do the dhue]

If memory serves me, McNally jackked a grand slam against the Reds in 70 too.

[OrioleFan]

The Earl of Baltimore is a good book.

There’s a story about Jim Palmer and Earl Weaver when Earl was managing Rochester (I believe). Jim Palmer never gave up a grand slam as a major leaguer, but he did in the minors. The story goes Jim had managed to walk the bases loaded and Earl went out to the mound. Earl told Jim to “throw the damn ball over the plate!” Palmer grooved the next pitch and out it went. The batter happened to be Johnny Bench. When Earl went out to get Palmer, Jim said, “You told me to throw it over the plate.”

I wanted to be like Brooks - ended up at 3rd base on a lot of softball teams (Virginia, Colorado, Texas, and Ohio). I have a glove Brooks autographed the day he retired. In the 70’s I used to rent out rooms in my house in Lynchburg, VA so I could afford to go up to Baltimore for weekend games. Sat up in Wlid Bill Hagy’s section. Lots of great stories.

[OrioleFan]

Palmer, McNally, Dobson, and Cuellar - remember them well. Pat Dobson is the one most people have a problem remembering. The O’s had some awesome pitching back then (mid 60’s - late 70’s. In 65, when they beat the Dodgers, the Dodgers didn’t score a run after the 3rd inning of the first game. Hank Bauer was manager.

Pitching, defense, and 3-run homers (Earl Weaver baseball). Earl created the Orioles player development system that the new ownership no longer uses.

[do the dhue]

I remember Wild Bill! I'll bet you do have some great stories.

I have a year book that I took to White Sox/Orioles and Tiger/Oriole games in the early 70s. I nearly got every Orioles Signature on it. I even have George Bamburgers autograph on it.